Project Grant R01AI185769

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York $822,280 on August 13, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to conduct research on intragraft alloreactive T cells in human solid organ transplantation, with the goal of controlling rejection after transplantation.

The research dissects intragraft T cell alloimmunity using longitudinal surveillance biopsies from intestinal transplant recipients to understand mechanisms of graft rejection versus acceptance. The work integrates pre- and post-transplant mixed lymphocyte reactions with T cell receptor sequencing and multiomic profiling to track alloreactive T cell repertoires. Previous findings identified tissue-resident memory and effector T cell phenotypes associated with rejection, as well as "tolerant" donor-reactive T cells that become non-proliferative post-transplant and are enriched in stable grafts, suggesting a mucosal tolerance mechanism. Current work further investigates regulatory T cell-mediated tolerance within grafts and the relationship between graft-versus-host and host-versus-graft reactivity ratios and rejection outcomes. The insights are intended to improve outcomes across solid organ transplantation beyond intestinal grafts.

Work is performed in New York, New York with a period of performance from August 13, 2026 through July 31, 2031.